UNIT PLAN: YVONNE BOESKOOL

Professional Literature Research

The concept and study of text features is a reading strategy created to understand and

interact with informational texts. Because text features, the content of my unit, is a strategy

itself, it was difficult, when researching, to differentiate between journal articles about content

versus teaching strategies. That being said, I believe I found two strong articles: one that I can

relate more to the actual strategy of using text features when reading, and one to the

implementation of text features (and informational text in general) into the classroom.

The first article, by N. Alexandra Bluestein, outlines the three main types of nonfiction

text in order of complexity for young readers. She states that When we unpack a strategy

completely for students, we ensure their abundant internalization of our instruction (p.597).

The simplest form of the genre is biography. She describes them as a great beginning bridge

because they are written in sequential narrative form and are thus easier for kids to follow along

with. They contain features such as table of contents, index, timelines, and photographs with

captions, that enhance students understanding of the text.

The next genre is journalistic text. These are important in getting readers to notice how

the features of nonfiction pop out of the page with eye-catching graphic features and other

visual elements. She also points out that journalistic text is usually disposable, allowing students

to mark it up for analysis.

Lastly, Bluestein unpacks the informational textbook genre. She believes that this is the

most complex of the three but possible the most important. It teaches students how to use page

numbers to find information. The use of headings and subheadings in textbooks give readers
 UNIT PLAN: YVONNE BOESKOOL

clues as to what to expect. Summary statement included are often useful for research,

and bolded words help develop wider vocabulary by drawing the readers attention (Bluestein,

2010).

The second article I read was by Beth Maloch and Michelle Horsey (2013). It described

Michelles second grade classroom as the ideal setting for the study of informational text. In this

classroom, as in every teachers dream, students were deeply involved and interested in the text

they were reading. These were readers who were not just knowledgeable about informational

text, but readers who felt empowered to go in search of it to make their point (p. 476). The

article focused on the concept of inquiry more than anything. It posed this question to readers:

What strategies can we use and habits can we implement into our classroom to create this rich

sense of inquiry within our students? It turns out that there are many options.

One of the main procedures and habits that Michelle adopted is including informational

text in her classroom everyday. Approximately a fourth of the texts in her classroom were

nonfiction. This is superior in comparison to the widespread shortage of informational texts in

elementary classrooms across the globe. Its important that students are exposed to a lot of this

type of text because about 90 percent of the texts that adults read and use after school age are in

this category.

Next, Michelle integrated her language arts instruction with other subject areas. As

elementary teachers, we have freedom to do that and research shows that it pays off. Aside from

teaching students about social studies and science, informational text allows them to find what

theyre interested in. Its an exploratory genre in that sense.

She also encouraged and modeled ways of making use of informational texts as resources

in purposeful ways. This is where the study of text features comes into play. Michelle used
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classrooms charts to organize different genres, purposes, and text features. She started her text

features unit with larger informational books. Students got to first explore and observe these

books and their features. Then she split the text features into several days of study. The students

kept track of the terms, their importance, and real-life examples on a graphic organizer in which

they deconstructed newspaper and magazine articles. These visual tools served as a valuable

ongoing resource to remind readers to attend to and glean information from all print sources on

the page (p. 480).

Lastly, Michelle nudged the students toward critical inquiry and consumption of texts.

She encouraged and thus created an environment where students were genuinely interested in the

information available to them, and even used their free time to explore it. Michelle adds,

Inviting students to explore the topic by sharing a local story, right in our own backyard,

provided a natural hook for students to build on (Maloch and Horsey, 2013, p. 483). Overall,

its all about working to achieve an environment that promotes inquiry when studying

informational text.